News Releases

VAN NUYS, CA — Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman announced today that Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic has rejected the District Attorney’s Office request to withdraw a resentencing motion filed by the prior administration on behalf of Lyle and Erik Menendez. The Court will proceed with a resentencing hearing on April 17 and 18 at the Van Nuys Courthouse.

“There were two paths to get to a resentencing hearing: The Court’s own initiated motion and the prior DA’s motion,” said District Attorney Hochman. “We have consistently stated that we are prepared to go forward with the Court’s own initiated motion for resentencing while requesting to withdraw the prior DA’s motion as deficiently considering a key aspect of rehabilitation, a full and complete insight and acceptance of responsibility for the entire breadth of one’s crime. As a result, the fact that we are going to have a resentencing hearing is not unexpected.

“In denying our request to withdraw the prior DA’s resentencing motion, the Court rejected the Menendez brothers’ argument that our request was based just ‘on the political winds,’ acknowledging that this Office has pursued an impartial, non-political agenda in this case grounded in the facts and the law. In this case, after a thorough and extensive analysis of the facts and the law, we concluded that the case was not ripe for resentencing based on the Menendez brothers’ continuing failure to exhibit full insight and accept complete responsibility for the entire gamut of their criminal actions and cover-up, including the fabrications of their self-defense defense and their lies concerning their father being a violent rapist, their mother being a poisoner, and their trying to obtain a handgun for self-defense the day before the murder.

“These murders were calculated, premeditated, cold-blooded killings. Our position remains clear: Until the Menendez brothers finally come clean with all their lies of self-defense and suborning and attempting to suborn perjury, they are not rehabilitated and pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety.”

“I want to express my gratitude to the attorneys in my office — especially Assistant Head Deputy Habib Balian and Deputy District Attorneys Seth Carmack and Ethan Milius — for devoting countless hours to this case,” District Attorney Hochman said. “Their diligence, integrity, and unwavering commitment to justice reflect the highest standards of public service and the expectations of the people we serve.”

Read our news release on LADA’s request to withdraw the motion for resentencing here.